the great Artery only in all the succeeding Anatomists hâ—â— Hippocrates under that name comprehends the Vena Arteriosa also the Aortae These Membranes are disposed by pairs for to every Orifice Nature has fram'd three which are round above in the form of a Semi-circle Those that know these Membranes wonder how they can shut the Aortae And if any one (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which words Foesius translates thus Siquis veteris instituti probè gnarus mortui animalis corde exempto hanc quidem demat illam vero reclinet neque aqua in cor penetrare nec Flatus emitti poterit And Cornarius much after the same manner Siquis veteris eximendi cor mortui moris goarus aliam auferat aliam reclinet neque aqua c. Why these Translators render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by that of Mos or Institutum which it does not signifie is a mystery to me it ought to be translared Ordo with relation to the Membranes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to Erotian is an Attick Word signisâ—ing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Order I explain alsâ— the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ancient by the term Natural 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ordo vetus seu naturalis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Erotian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 auferat I read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 firmet which I suppose to be the true reading but that the former crept into its place through the error of the Copists misled by affinity of the sound of those two Words who understands the ancient Order or the natural Order and Disposition of this Membrane takes out one rank or keeps one rank stretch'd and closes the other neither water nor wind can get into the Heart These Membranes are disposed with more Art or more Exactness on the Left-side than the Right The reason of this is because the Soul of Man or the Reasonable Soul which is above the other Soul has its Seat in the Left ventricle of the Heart This Soul has not its nourishment from the Meat which comes from the Belly but from a pure luminous Matter separated from the Blood This Matter which serves for Aliment to the Soul is abundantly furnished from the neighbouring Receptacle of the Blood and casts its Rays round as the Natural nourishment which comes from the Intestines and Belly is distributed into all parts and for fear lest that which is contained in the Artery shou'd hinder the course of the nourishment of the Soul and give a check to its motion the Orifice of this Artery is closed as aforesaid for the great Artery is nourished from the belly and intestines and not by this first or principal nourishment But the great Artery is not nourished by the blood which we see as is manifest by opening the left ventricle of any Animal for we find it quite empty or find nothing in it but serous humour or a little Bile and the aforesaid Membranes but the Artery is never without blood nor the right ventricle This Vessel therefore gave occasion to the making of those Membranes for the passage out of the right ventricle is likewise furnished with Membranes but the blood moves upon that side but feebly This way is open on the side to carry the blood thither for its nourishment but it is shut towards the heart so that way is left for the air to pass insensibly from the lungs to the heart not in great quantities for the heat which in this part is but feeble wou'd be over-power'd by the cold the blood not being naturally warm no more than water which receives its heat from elsewhere tho most believe it 's hot in its own nature This Book of the Heart will give us the greatest Idea of the Anatomy of Hippocrates and his exactness but it is one of those that is not acknowledgâ—d either by Erotian or Galen What the Author says in the beginning of this Book of the passage of one part of the drink into the Lungs being a very ancient Opinion and maintained by Plato who must have it from the Physicians that preceded him of which Hippocrates was most considerable we might infer that the Book in which this Opinion is maintained is his but those who forged this Book might on purpose insert this opinion to warrant its antiquity We shall see hereafter further proofs that it is spurious in the Chapters of Aristotle and Erasistratus This opinion is repeated in the Book of the Nature of the Bones It is indeed amply refuted in the fourth book of Diseases but most Authors agree this later book not to be Hippocrates's We shall find something more of importance in the Chapters of the Fibres We have seen already three different Opinions taken from the Writings of Hippocrates concerning the Origin of the Veins there is yet a fourth and what is more particular This later opinion is to be found in the same book with the third I mean the book of the Nature of the Bones in which the Veins are derived from the Head The passage is this The veins which are spread thro' the body and which give it (p) See the Chapter of the Nerves the spirit the flux and the motion are all branches of one Vein whence it draws its Origin or it terminates I know not but supposing a Circle a beginning is not to be found Something like this is what we read in (q) De locis in hom sub initia another place There is no origin or beginning in the body but the parts are equally both beginning and end for in a Circle there is no beginning There are some other passages parallel to these (r) Lib. de Alâ—men The nourishment comes from the inward parts to the hair nails and outward superficies It goes likewise from the external parts and superficies to the internal All agree consent and conspire together in the body And a little after (s) Ibid. The great Principle reaches to the extremities and the extremities to the great Principle (t) Ibid. The Milk and the Blood come from the superfluity of the nourishment or are the remainder of the nourishment of the body (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same word is to be found in the first book of Diet. We find there likewise these following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to turn about 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gyration or turning round 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 terms used by Hippocrates to signifie the Mechanism of our bodies by an allusion to the methods used by Artificers of all sorts in their Shops The Circulations go a great way in relation to the Faetus and to the nourishment after the nourishment is perform'd what remains returns and turns to Milk and becomes nourishment to the Mother and afterwards to the Faetus And again the same way which leads upwards leads also downwards or there is but one way which goes both upwards and downwards
that distinguishes himself from all other Males by a fierce and truly Masculine Air which is peculiar to him I translate the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the French word Air which might be rendred Species in Latin which answers exactly to the Greek the Etymologie being the same The dissections that Aristotle made of several different sorts of Animals Quadrupeds Birds Fishes and Insects had taught him divers things concerning the use of the parts of each of these Kinds We shall not go about to examine here what he delivers of the difference of their parts and uses because that would lead us too far from our Subject We shall only touch here in a few words upon what relates to the structure and use of parts common to all perfect Animals such as Men and all Quadrupeds Aristotle esteem'd the heart to be the Origen and Source of the veins and blood The blood says he goes from the heart into the veins (g) De Part. An. lib. 3. cap. 4. Those that find the Circulation of the Blood in Aristotle will have some difficulty to get over this Passage but it comes not from any part into the heart He says that there come two veins out of the heart one from the right side which is the largest and the other from the left side which is the least which he calls the Aorta where by the by we may take notice that this Philosopher (h) Hist Anim. lib. 3. cap. 5. as Galen says is the first that gave that name to the great Artery which proves that the book i of the Heart wherein this name is found is not Hippocrates's Aristotle thought that these two veins distributed the blood to all parts of the body He says elsewhere that there were in the heart three Cavities which he calls ventricles Of these three ventricles that in the middle of whose scituation he gives no other account is the common principle of the other two altho' it be the least the blood which it contains is also the most temperate and pure The blood of the right ventricle is the hottest and that of the left the coldest This latter ventricle being the biggest of the three These three ventricles says he communicate with the lungs by vessels different from the two great veins which disperse themselves thro the whole substance of the Lungs He made not only the veins of the vessels which contain blood to come out of the heart but he would have the Nerves also to take their Origine from thence for which opinion this was his ground (k) Hist An. lib. 3. cap. 5. The biggest Ventricle of the Heart says he contains small Nerves and it is a true Nerve in its extremities having no Cavity and being stretched after the manner of Nerves in the place where it terminates towards the Articulation of the bones He says also in another place (l) De part Anim. lib. 3 cap. 4. that there are abundance of Nerves in the heart which are of great use because the motions come from thence which are made by contracting and extending By this latter passage he seems to design the Tendons which serve to dilate and contract the heart and if we have observed before that Hippocrates confounded the Nerves with the Tendons and Ligaments Aristotle does not appear to have distinguished them any better nor to have known the use of the true Nerves In another place he affirms (m) Hâ—st Animal lib. 3. cap. 5. that the Nerves are not continuous but scatter'd here and there about the places of the Articulations by which it is visible he meant the Tendons If he had known the use of the Nerves he would not have said (n) De part Animal lib. 2. cap. 10. that none but the parts which had blood could feel or had sensation nor would he have maintained (o) De part Anim. lib. 2. cap. 1. that the flesh is the proper Organ of sensation as for motion if he attributes it to the Nerves or says 't is made immediately by the Nerves 't is easie to see that the Nerves there meant were either the Tendons or Ligaments As for the common principle of motion and sensation Aristotle places it in the Heart which he looks upon also as the principle of the nourishment of all the parts of the body by the means of the blood which it sends to them as the Focus which contains the natural fire upon which depends life as the place where the passions have their birth and where all the sensations terminate In a word as the true seat of the Soul and that not because the Nerves have their Origine from thence as some imagine but because it is the reservatory of the blood and spirits He formally maintains (p) lâ—b de Spiritu that the spirits cannot be contained in the Nerves But if Aristotle attributes such noble uses to the heart the brain was in his opinion but a heap of Water and Earth without blood and without sense The office of this Cold Lump was says he to refresh and moderate the heat of the heart But besides that he gives elsewhere this Office to the Lungs he does not account for the manner how the brain should be capable of discharging it And altho' the brain be plac'd immediately upon the spinal marrow and fix'd to it yet he pretended that the substance of that marrow was-quite different from that of the brain being a sort of blood prepar'd for the nourishment of the bones and consequently hot whereas the other was cold He made otherwise so little of the brain that if he did not absolutely reckon it amongst the excrements he thought it ought not to be ranked amongst the parts of the body which had any continuity or union with the rest that he look'd on 't as a substance of a peculiar nature and different from all the rest of the body As for the rest of the Viscera as the Liver the Spleen and the Kidneys he thought that their first and chief usage was to support the veins which would be pendulous but for them and to strengthen them in their place Besides this first use he assigned them some others The Liver helped to the digestion of the meat in the stomach and the guts by the warmth which it imparted to those parts of which we shall speak more particularly in the Sequel The Liver was not of such universal use and is according to him but accidentally necessary to collect and concoct the Vapours which rise from the Belly hence it is that Animals in whom these vapours take another course have but a very small Spleen as Birds and Fishes whose feathers and scales are form'd and nourish'd out of this moisture And these Animals for the same reason says he have neither kidneys nor bladder (q) De part Animâ—l 〈◊〉 3 â—ap 7. The Kidneys also according to him are onlâ— for conveniency their office is to imbibe part of the
receive life and sensation He affirms elsewhere that it is this faculty which gives nourishment preservation and growth to all things The manner wherein nature acts or its most sensible administration by the means of the faculties according to him consists on one side in attracting what is good and agreeable to each species and in retaining preparing or changing it and on the other side in rejecting whatever is superfluous or hurtful after she has separated it from the good The Physick of Hippocrates generally turns upon this hinge as also upon that inclination which as he supposes every thing has to be joynâ—d with what agrees with it and to remove from all that is contrary to it self supposing first an affinity between the several parts of the body which is the reason that they sympathize reciprocally in the ills they suffer as they share the good that arrives to them in common according to the great Maxim which he establishes (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that every thing concurs consents and conspires together in the body with relation to the animal O Economy as we shall find more particularly in the following Chapter Thus I have shown what it is that Hippocrates calls nature He no otherwise describes this principle of so many surprizing operations unless it be that he seems to compare it to a certain heat whereof he speaks after this manner (f) De Carâ—â—bus What we call heat or hot seems to me to have something of immortal in it that understands all that sees and knows as well what is present as what is to come At least we find a great resemblance between the effects which he ascribes to that heat of which more hereafter and those which he attributes to nature As for the rest altho Hippocrates acknowledges in some places fire water air and earth or fire and water in particular to be the first elements of the bodies yet he seems in others to admit three different principles the solid the liquid or the humid and the Spirits which he explains otherwise (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Equidem lib. vi sect viii by the container the contained and that which gives motion But as he particularly made use of these principles to explain all the accidents of humane body we shall forbear to give his meaning of them till we come to that Chapter In one of Hippocrates's Books which is entituled of Flesh (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the latter is more natural and answers the subject of the Book better according to others of principles we find something very singular concerning the formation of the universal world and of Animals in particular He at first supposes that the production of man or his being that he has a Soul that he is in health or that he is sick all his good and ill fortune in the world that he is born or dies to proceed from things (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 elevated and above us or the coelestial bodies By this we may understand the Stars the influences of which according to this Author have no small power over humane bodies But he explains himself when he ascribes all the above-mention'd things to that immortal heat of which above that is generally suppos'd to be the same thing with what he calls nature in other places The greatest part of the heat continues he that I have describ'd having gainâ—d the highest place at the time of the Chaos form'd that which the ancients call'd the Aether another part of this heat or the greatest part of the heat which remain'd continuing in the lowest space which is call'd Earth there was a meeting of Cold and Dry there and a great disposition to motion A third part keeping the middle space between the Aether and the Earth made what we call the Air which is likewise somewhat hot At last a fourth part that lay nearest to the Earth and was the thickest and most humid of all form'd what we call water All these things having been jumbled together by a circular motion at the time of the above-mention'd Chaos that portion of heat which continu'd in the earth being dispers'd into several places and divided into several parts in one place more and less in another the earth was dried up by this means and form'd as it were (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 membranes or tunicles in which the matter growing hot as it were by a sort of fermentation that which was most oyly and least moist was quickly burnt and so form'd the Bones but that which was more viscid and in some measure cold not being combustible form'd the Nerves or rather the Tendons and Ligaments which are hard and solid As for the Veins they were form'd of the coldest and most viscid parts the more glutionous parts being dry'd by the heat and from thence came the Membranes and Skins of which they are compos'd The cold particles which had nothing in them oleous or viscid being dissolv'd produc'd the humour or liquor which these Membranes inclose The Bladder with its contents were form'd after the same manner as were also all the other cavities In those parts continues Hippocrates where the glutinous exceeds the fat the Membranes are made and in those where the fat is stronger than the glutinous Bones are produc'd The Brain â—â—ing the (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Capital City seat or proper place of cold and glutinous which the heat cou'd neither dissolve not burn t is first of all formed of the membranes in its supersâ—â—e and afterwards of bones by the means of a small portion of fat which the heat had roasted the marrow of the back-bone is made after the same manner being cold and glutinous like the brain and consequently very different from the marrow of the bones which being only fat is not cover'd with any membranes The heart having likewise a great deal of glutinous matter in it became haâ—d and glutinous flesh inclos'd in a membrane and hollow The Lungs being near the heart are thus formed The heart by its own heat presently dries up the most viscid part of the moisture makes a sort of scumm full of Pipes and Channels being likewise filled with divers little veins The Liver is made of a great quantity of moist and hot that has nothing fat or viscid in it so that the cold being too strong for the hot the humid is coagulated or thicken'd Upon the same foot Hippocrates reasons about the production of the Spleen the Reins and some other parts What we have already cited may serve to give a Specimen of his manner of Philosophizing Upon which I make this reflection that this System of Hippocrates seems to be not very different from that of Heraclitus the heat by which the former supposes all things to have been produced being very near the same thing with fire which according to the latter was the origine or principle of all Bodies as we have observed above
in which is a small quantity of moisture like Urine so that the Heart is as it were in a sort of Bladder It was form'd after this manner in a Case for its better defence Of the Liquor there is but just as much as is necessary for the refreshment of the Heart and to preserve it from being over-heated It distils from the Heart which draws to it part of the moisture which the Lungs reserve from the Drink For when any one drinks most of it falls into the Stomach the OEsophagus (a) The Gullet being as it were a Tunnel which receives what we swallow whether Liquid or Solid But the (b) The upper-part of the Wind-pipe Pharynx draws a little of the Liquor into its cleft the Epiglottis which is as it were the lid of the Pharynx hindering the greatest part of it from falling into it As a proof of this if we make any Animal whatsoever especially a Hog drink Water tinged with blue or red and cut his throat while he is drinking we shall find this water charged with the Tincture But every one is not fit to make this experiment We are not to make any difficulty of believing that part of the drink slips into the Aspera Arteria But it may be ask'd how comes it then to pass that in drinking too swift the Water getting into the cleft of the Pharynx raises a violent Cough It is because the quantity of the Water being too great opposes directly the return of the Air from the Lungs in expiration Whereas when a little slips in at the clift slipping gently down the sides of the Aspera Artiria it hinders not the Air from Rising But on the contrary facilitates the passage by moistening the (c) Wind-pipe Aspera Arteria The Heart draws the moisture from the Lungs at the time of inspiration and after the Air hath servâ—d the use of the Heart it returns by the way it came But the Heart sucks up a part of the moisture which passes into its Bag letting the rest return with the Air. This Air being return'd as far as the Pallate (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 escapes thro a double passage and it is necessary that it shou'd go out and the moisture also they being of no use to the nourishment of the Body How can Wind and Crude water serve for the nourishment to a man not but that one and t'other have their use for they serve to fortifie the Heart against the Evil it is naturally afflicted with that is excessive heat The Heart is a very strong Muscle not for its Tendons but for the hardness and compactness of the Flesh It has two distinct Ventricles in one inclosure (e) E. v 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one on one side and t'other on t'other which are not like to one another the one is on the right-side at the mouth of the great Vein and the other on the left and they take up almost the whole Heart The cavity of the first is greater than that of the latter and is more soft but it extends not quite to the point of the Heart the extremity of which is solid it appears as if it were sewed or fixed to the Heart The Left Ventricle is situated directly under the Left Nipple to which it answers in a right Line and where its pulsation or beating may be felt Its sides are thick and it has a cavity like that of a (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mortar which answers to the Lungs which moderate by their nearness the excessive heat of this Ventricle for the Lungs are naturally cold and receive a further refreshment by the inspiration of the Air. Both these Ventricles are rough and as it were coroded within especially the Left (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The natural fire or heat which is born with us has not its Seat in the Right and it is something wonderous that the Left which receives from the Lungs an Air which is not temper'd or mix'd shou'd be the most rugged it was likewise made thicker than the other for the better preservation of the aforesaid heat The Orifices of these Ventricles are not visible till the Ears of the heart be first open'd or cut off and its head or basis When they are cut off we find two Orifices in either Ventricle but the Vena Cava which comes out of one of them is not seen after it is cut These are the Fountains of Human Nature and from hence flow those Springs that serve the whole body These are the streams that give life to Man and when they dry up he dies At the Exit of these Veins the Vena Cava and great Artery and all round the mouth of these Ventricles there are certain soft and hollow bodies called the Ears of the heart they have not however any perforations like the Ears nor do they serve to hear sounds but they are the Instruments by which Nature draws the Air and shew themselves the Work of an Ingenious Workman who considering the Heart ought to be very (h) The Author says this place is very obscure that he has translated it as well as he cou'd that if he has not succeeded extraordinarily in it that he has for his comfort the company of the rest of the Interpreters in his misfortune solid as being form'd of blood coagulated or thickned at the mouth of the veins and that it ought to have likewise the faculty of drawing has fix'd Bellows to it as Smiths do to their Forges that it might draw the Air by this means In confirmation of this we see the Heart in one part continually agitating it self and the Ears in particular to dilate and subside in their turns I am likewise of opinion (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the small veins draw the Air in the Left Ventricle and the Artery in the Right I say likewise that that which is soft is most proper to draw and to be inflated and that it was necessary that (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which the Author supposes the right Ventricle of the Heart to be meant * But I rather think that the Auricles were still intended as by comparing them with the precedent and subsequent expressions will appear what was fix'd to the Heart shou'd be refreshed since it partakes of the heat but the Engine which draws the Air ought not to be so large lest it shou'd overcome the heat I ought likewise says Hippocrates to describe the hidden Membranes of the Heart (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are an admirable Work some are spread within the ventricles of the Heart like Spiders Webs they close the Orifices of the ventricles of the Heart and send their threads into the substance of the Heart They seem to me to be (m) See the Chapter of the Nerves the Nerves or the Tendons of this Entrail and the Origin or Place from whence they spring (n) Tâ—â— Aorta signifies
the Sences the Muscles and the Tendons The Grinders signify the Teeth Those that look out of the Windows are the Eyes The Doors shut in the Streets and the sound of grinding become low signify the mouth which opens with pain to speak and the necessity of eating slowly and without noise The voice of the Bird denotes the morning which is the time when old men get up because they cannot sleep The Daughters of Musick that are brought low signify that men leave off Singing at that age and have no â—relish of Arts or Sciences The fear and trembling of ancient persons and their difficulty of going is represented by what follows immediately after The flourishing Almond tree is white hair The Grashopper being a burthen is the body which from a light and slender one as it was before is become gross and heavy To conclude the long home is the grave and those that go about the streets are the mourning men or women that made a trade of waiting upon burials The rest of the Emblem or Enigm is more difficult to explain To succeed in such an attempt a man ought to have the very same Idea of the parts of the body as Solomon had This is certain that the sacred Author designed under these hidden terms to show the dissolution of our principal organs and this is all we can pretend to know As for what has been written of the Silver cord which some interpret to be the Arteries or the Spinal Marrow of the golden Bowl which some take to be the the membranes of the Brain the Liver or the Heart of the Pitcher which signifies the Skull and the Wheel that denotes the Lungs all this I say is but a bare conjecture that has no solid foundation Perhaps there may be something in the writings of the Rabbies that may help to interpret this passage But if there is I know nothing of it and leave is to others to find it out that understand them To these curious Gentlemen I likewise leave every thing else relating to Physick which it to be found in the Books of the Jewish writers The informations we receive from this quarter are but very inconsiderable if all the rest be of a piece with the ridiculous Fable of the bone call'd Luz which according to them is found in the Back-bone which is the Root and as it were the Basis of the whole frame of the human Body so that the Heart the Liver the Brains and the Genitals derive their original from this miraculous bone which has this virtue or priviledge besides that it cannot be burnt nor grownd nor broke to pieces but continues still the same being as it were the bud of the Resurrection from which the whole Body of the animal shall shoot again as Plants from their Seeds Rilanus from whom I have borrow'd this passage adds that the Rabbies reckon'd two hundred forty eight bones and three hundred sixty five veins or ligaments in a man's body Those that understand Anatomy will langh at this but as little skill as these Doctors show in this Science 't is probable that they were not much better verst in it in the time of Solomon or those Aegyptian Kings whom we mention in the beginning of this Chapter Their Superstition was no less then than when the Rabbies flourishâ—d who plam'd an infinite number of Fables upon the world as the account we have given of the Physick of these ancient times sufâ—â—ciently testiâ—ies THE HISTORY OF Physick PART I. BOOK II. By Mr. BROWN CHAP I. Of what happen'd to this Art from the time of the Trojan War to that of Peloponnesus WE have hitherto set down almost every thing that the earliest times of antiquity furnish us with relating to Physick If the Reader is surpiz'd to see the account so uncertain and mixt with Fables to the time of the Trojan War he will have more reason to be so when he is inform'd that even after this period if we may believe Pliny (a) Sequentia ejus Medicina a Trojanis temporibus mirum dictu in nocte dentissimâ latuere usque and Peloponucsiacum bellum Tunc eam in lucem revocavit Hippocrates lib. 19. Cap. 1. Physick lay buried in a most profound darkness till the Peloponnesian War broke out when Hippocrates as it were reviv'd it and brought it to light 'T is at least the space of seven hundred years from the first of these Wars down to the second Celsus does not descend altogether so low as Pliny but we want only about fourscore years which distance of time there is between Pythagoras and Hippocrates the first having liv'd in the lxth Olympiad and the second in the lxxxth Behold now after what manner he speaks of the latter (b) Cels Praefat After those whom I have mentioned that is to say the Sons of Aesculapius there was no person of reputation that practis'd Physick till such time as men began to apply themselves more earnestly to the study of learning which being as prejudicial to the body as it is serviceable to the mind it so fell out that those who pursu'd it with the greatest application having destroy'd their health with the perpetual Meditations and Watchings had more occasion for Physick than other Men. For this reason the science of healing Maladies was at first consider'd as a branch of Philosophy so that we may justly affirm that Physick and Philosophy were born together This is the true cause why we find several of the ancient Philosophers very well skill'd in Physick among whom we may reckon Pythagoras Empedocles and Democritus as the most considerable What this Author says here viz. that Physick and Philosophy began together is only pursuant to what he had advanc'd before and we have already observ'd that all the Physick of the Sons of Esculapius and of their contemporaries wholly consisted in healing of wounds If we must assign a reason for this great Vacuum which these Authors remark to have happen'd here in the History of Physick we may say that the knowledge of those that practicâ—d it during this interval being shut up within the narrow bounds of Empiricism men were content with knowing a few Remedies which experience had shown to be proper for certain Diseases without reasoning either upon the cause of the illness or the operation of the remedies so that these remedies being handed down from Father to Son and never going out of the Family there was no necessity to write upon this subject This being supposed we are not to wonder that since these Physicians did not make themselves known by their writings which is one of the surest ways of preserving our memories their names are buried in oblivion Another reason no less forcible than the former is this that those who succeeded Aesculapius and his Son how great soever their skill and experience might be lived in a fabulous age and having no opportunity to assist at so celebrated a Siege as that of Troy they wanted
Guts the Liver the Spleen the Kidneys the Bladder the Matrix the Diaphragm the Heart the Lungs the Brain as well as the most sensible humours such as the Blood Cholar Melancholy Flegm the Serosities or Waters and all the different sort of excrements that proceed from several parts of our body It appears at first Sight that the Asclepiadae cou'd not know all this without being Anatomists or at least without having dissected Animals but 't is easy to demonstrate that they might attain to the knowledge of these things without it The first and most familiar instruction they had came from their Butchers and their Sacrifices and as for what relates to to a human body in particular they were glad of any opportunity to instruct themselves when they found any bones in the Fields that were stript of the Flesh either by Beasts or the length of time that these bodies had been expos'd to the air or when they found in some by places the carcass of some unfortunate Traveller that had been murder'd by Robbers or the bodies of Soldiers that died of the great wounds of they receivâ—d in Battel They consider'd them without giving themselves the trouble to make any other Preparation besides what they found ready made to their hands and took no notice of that scruple which forbad them to touch any dead body which they found by accident This was so great a scruple among the Ancients that it appears from a passage in Aristotle which we shall cite hereafter that in his time there was no dissection of human bodies Now this Philosopher liv'd above fourscore years after Hippocrates T is true indeed that the Egyptians as we have already taken notice having been accustomed of old to embalm dead bodies were furnishâ—d by this means with an opportunity to know the true disposition of some parts of the body which they must needs lay open when they separated them from others to preserve the rest and it might so happen that the Asclepiadae reapt some advantage by these discoveries of the Egyptians but as the chief intention of the latter was the preserving of Bodies so they scarce proceeded much farther than it was necessary for them to go on with their design I have thus recounted the several means by which these ancient Physicians discover'd the structure of bodies after the Death of the animal but the best School they had and indeed that which instructed them better than any of the rest was the Practice of their Professioâ— which daily gave them an opportunity to see in living bodies what they were not able to discover in the dead when they dressâ—d Wounds Vlcers Tumours Fractures Dislocations and perform'd other Chyrurgical operations And as Physick was preserv'd in the Family of the Asclepiadae for several Ages where it passâ—d from Father to Son so the traditions and observations of their Fathers and Ancestors supply'd the want of experience in each particular man This last opportunity joyn'd with the former has made several Physicians who livâ—d a long while after them and of whom we shall make mention hereafter to call it an easie and natural tho a long way to gain the knowledge of the humane Body maintaining that this way alone was sufficient for practice We shall find in the Fifth Book what were the reasons that induc'd them to this as likewise what other Physicians had to say upon this occasion CHAP. VI. Of those Physicians that were Philosophers and first of Pythagoras and Xamolxis his Slave HItherto as we have observ'd it does not appear that Reason had been very much consulted in Physick the whole knowledge of which Art seems to have totally consisted in discerning and knowing Diseases rather by their signs than by their causes and using a few simple Medicaments that were almost all taken from Herbs or the practice of some magical or superstitious Remedies The Philosophers were the first that interloping in this Art at the same time introduc'd the fashion of reasoning into it These Gentlemen added to it that part which is call'd Physiology and considers a humane body which is the subject of Physick such as it is in its natural state and endeavours to assign reasons for its functions and operations in examining the parts thereof and all that belongs to it by Anatomy and the principles of Physick Not that it appears by any of their writings or by the Titles of their Books that they had ever been what we call Practitioners Empedocles of whom we shall talk hereafter is the only man among them who is reported to have perform'd a cure All the rest appear to have devoted themselves rather to the Theory than Practice of Physick Pythagoras who liv'd about the lx Olympiad and founded the Italick School is the most ancient we know of those that began to take this Art into their consideration This Pihlosopher neglected no means nor opportunity to render his knowledge universal With this design he travell'd into Egypt which was the Country of Arts and Sciences and learnt all their curiosities 'T is very probable he borrow'd all the knowledge he had in Physick from thence of which we have nothing remaining but a few small fragments which however sufficiently discover a Spirit of superstition so remarkable in the preceeding Physicians as we have already observ'd that which relates to Physiology being very inconsiderable (a) Diogen Laert. Hist Philos Galen He believ'd that at the time of Conception a certain substance descended from the Brain which contain'd a warm vapour from whence the Soul and all the Senses derived their original while the Flesh the Nerves or Tendons the Bones the Hair and all the Body in general was made of the Blood and other Humours that meet in the Matrix He added that the Body of the Infant was formed and became solid in forty days but that eleven or nine or more generally ten months according to the rules of harmony were requisite to make him intirely compleat that all that happen'd to him during the whole course of his life was then regulated and that he carry'd it along with him in a Series or Chain proportion'd to the Laws of the same harmony above-mention'd every thing falling out afterwards necessarily in its own time At the end of this Chapter we shall examine what he meant by this He likewise asserted that the Veins the Arteries the Nerves are the cords of the Soul According to him the Soul spreads itself from the Heart to the Brain and that part of it which is in the Heart is the same from whence the passions proceed whereas Reason and the Understanding reside in the Brain This opinion which belongs in common to him and the sacred Writers perhaps came first from the Caldeans with whom he had convers'd As for the causes of Distempers he had learnt without question all that was believ'd concerning them in the same School and in that of the Magicians whom he had likewise consulted The Air said
transparent the light and luminous bodies are (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reflected and by this reflection vision is made Vision is not made by what is not Diaphanous and does not reflect The rest of the white about the eye is a sort of flesh and what we call the sight appears black because it is deep The Tunicles which are about it are black for the same reason We call says he a Membrane or Tunicle that which is like a skin which is no way black of it self but white and transparent As for the moisture which is in the eyes it is something viscid for we have sometimes seen after the breaking of the eye that there came out a thick humour which is liquid while it is warm but solid as Incense when it is cold Those that think that Hippocrates knew as much as we do now may say that he called the Optick Nerves veins 'T is true this name signifies variety of things in this Author for he gave it not only to the Arteries but likewise to the Vessels which contained no blood such as the Ureters because they are round long hollow and white like veins He does indeed sometimes distinguish certain veins by the Epithet of (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 veins that hold blood but 't is not in opposition to the Nerves but to certain Vessels which he calls (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib de Ossium Nat. veins that are very slender and contain but little blood He talks also of a Nerve full of blood which according to Erotian shou'd be a vein tho' others understand by it the Panniculus Carnosus A learned Interpreter of Hippocrates pretends that he gave to some veins the Epithet of hollow to distinguish them from veins that were (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vid. Foesii Oâ—comom Hippâ—c invoce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solid but I find not this later word in Hippocrates tho the hollow veins there cited might be meant of the veins and arteries in general which are both hollow Vessels The same Interpreter says elsewhere (k) Id. in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Hippocrates in one place comprehends under the name of Veins Nerves Tendons and Ligaments which he appears not to me to prove Rusus Ephesius tells us That the most ancient Greeks call the Arteries Nerves if it be true that Hippocrates called the Optick Nerves veins he ought to have said that the Ancients reciprocally called the Nerves by the names of Arteries and Veins All that we can gather from all this is that the inaccurateness of Hippocrates and other Authors of those Times in distinguishing different Vessels by different names shews that they had but a very superficial knowledge of them Perhaps the word (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vein was a term as general amongst them as (m) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that of Vessel amongst the Anatomists since which signifies indifferently a Vein Artery or Nerve or even the Vreters or any other parts that serve for the conveyance of Liquors or Spirits If it were so the Ancients run no risque when they call all the Vessels veins without distinction Of the FIBRES Before we quit the Nerves we must examine the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose plural makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which it is pretended that Hippocrates signify'd equally a Fibre and a Nerve Some says Erotian will have this word to signifie a Nerve others explain it only of the Fibres whereof the Nerves are composed The Greek Authors that have written of Plants have call'd by this name the Nerves or Strings which appear on the back of Leaves and the strings at the end of Roots The Anatomists have given the same name to the small strings which are in the flesh and other parts and the Latins have translated it Fibrae Hippocrates has undeniably used the word in that sense as when he observes that the Spleen is full of strings or fibres He takes notice also of the Fibres in the blood but it is pretended likewise that he signified the Nerves by it To prove it a passage is cited where he says (a) De Ossiâ—m Natur. That the heart has Nerves or Fibres which come from all the Body He uses there the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we find no where else but Foesius reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This latter word may as well be rendred Fibre as Nerve that which inclines us to the later signification is what he adds as a proof That the Seat of Thought is rather about the Thorax than any other place of the body because this agrees with the opinion of those who bring the Nerves from the Heart as we shall see hereafter But perhaps neither the common reading nor that of Foesius are true And we ought to read with Cornarius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habenas the Reins changing one letter it alters not the pronunciation This Author translates this passage thus The Heart is situated as in the Streights of a passage that it may hold the Reins for the guidance of the whole Body For this reason Thought has its Seat about the Thorax or Breast rather than any other part The changes of colour also are produced by the opening and shutting of the veins by the Heart when it opens them it looks fresh and lively when it shuts them we become pale and wan Of the MUSCLES There is little more to be found in Hippocrates concerning their Muscles than their name The following passage is the first that takes notice of them (a) Lib. de Arte. The parts whose flesh is turn'd round which is what we call a (b) MuÌ„s Muscle have all a belly or a cavity (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For all that is not composed of parts of a different nature whether it be covered with a Membrane or whether the flesh covers it all that is hollow and while it is well it is full of spirit but when it is diseased it is fillâ—d with a sort of water or corrupted blood The Arms have flesh of this sort the Thighs and the Legs the same as well as the most meagre and fleshless parts We find in another place the word (d) De Off. Nat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which can be nothing but an Adjective to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Musculi adductores or adstrictores The Muscles which serve to draw back or gather together He speaks there of the Anus I know not whether there be any other particular wherein the action of the Muscle is touch'd As for the names the succeeding Anatomists distinguish'd the Muscles he has spoken in one place of the Muscle call'd (e) Lib de Artic Psoas Of the Oesophagus of the Stomach or Ventricle and of the Guts (a) Lib. de Anatom The Oesophagus according to Hippocrates is a Tunnel which reaches from the Tongue to the Stomach which is the
other times when he intended to purge more strongly he took the flower of Copper and Hellebore after that he shook the Patient violently by the shoulders the better to loosen the Pus This Remedy which is found in (b) De morbis lib. 2 de internis affectionibus two places of the Works of Hippocrates is attributed by Galen to the Cnidien Physicians which we have spoke of in the precedent Book The Physicians of the succeeding Ages have practis'd it no more whether they had no Patients that wou'd suffer it or whether they thought it of no benefit which is most probable These ancient Physicians invented this Remedy to raise a cough upon what they observed that it was the only means by which the Pus cou'd be naturally evacuated from the Breast and be as it were pump'd out of the Lungs CHAP. XVI Whether Hippocrates made use of Purgations or Superstitious Purifications which we spoke of above WE have seen in the first Book of our History that Melampus and Polyides us'd certain Purgations or Expiations which had regard to Crimes as well as Distempers It seems Hippocrates also approv'd of this practice when he says (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. de decenti habitu That a Physician ought to have knowledge of the Purgatives or Purifications beneficial to life (b) A Modern Translator of Hippocrates Cornarius has understood it this way and in effect we cannot explain this passage or word otherwise for he does not treat here of the Purgations that we spoke of in the foregoing Chapter And the other Interpreters or Commentators on Hippocrates that have taken it in this latter sense are mistaken But we may say That seeing he meets with variations in the Original (c) Some Manuscripts read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the singular which intirely alters the sence and that signifies nothing if you don't refer it to the follewing word which is also very obscure Manuscripts in relation to the word in question and that all this passage there being compris'd in it that which immediately follows is but obscure perhaps Hippocrates meant to speak quite another thing (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A freedom from Superstition which is one of the qualities he requires in a Physician in the same place where he makes a parallel betwixt a Philosopher and one of this Profession appears contrary to it For how indeed does the necessity which he wou'd impose on a Physician to understand purifications which consisted of some superstitious ceremonies agree with the freedom from every thing that is superstitious It 's true that another translator of Hippocrates's reads this last word otherwise and takes it (e) Calvus translates as if â—e had read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the contrary sense But the inclining to superstition or a superstitious fear of the Gods is not that which they have accus'd the Philosophers of no more than the Physicians between whom they say Hippocrates endeavours to make a comparison in this passage We have nothing to do besides but to read the Book intitled of the Sacred Distemper to see how Hippocrates openly laughs at all the ridiculous ceremonies they practis'd in his time to cure this distemper and in particular the expiations and purifications they perform'd on this occasion We will not relate any thing he has said above to avoid being tedious we 'll only remark that he puts those that meddled with expiations Magicians Mountebanks and impudent Boasters that promise more than they mean and have nothing to perform Weâ—ll remark I say that he puts all these sorts of fellows in the same rank ending a long discourse which he makes on this subject with these words more worthy of a Christian than a Pagan as he was It is says he the Deity that purifies us and washes us from our greatest sins and from our most enormous crimes It is the Divinity which protects us and it is only in the Temples which are the habitations of the Gods that we ought to seek to purisie ourselves of whatâ—s unclean I know this Book to be suppos'd to belong to some other Author But however it be that Hippocrates used only remedies purely natural and never proposed any superstitious ones is an Argument he was never for them We may see further how he elsewhere (f) Lib. de his quae ad virginem spectaut rallies the women of his time that were troubled with the Mother for offering to Diana rich Garments He does not stick to say that the Priests who advis'd these poor women thus abused them wretchedly CHAP. XVII Of Blood-letting and of the Application of Cupping-Glasses BLood-letting was another method of evacuating or taking away the superfluity of what was in the Vessels and parts which Hippocrates us'd Another aim he had in it was to divert or recall the course of the Blood which was going where it ought not to be A third end of bleeding was to procure a free motion of the Blood and Spirits as we may gather from the following passage (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He says elsewhere in the same sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bladder slopt When any one becomes speechless of a sudden Hippocrates says it is caus'd by the shutting of the Veins especially when it happens to a person otherwise in good health without any outward violence In this case the inward vein of the right Arm must be open'd and more or less blood taken away according to the age and constitution of the Patient Those that lose their Speech thus have great flushings in the face their Eyes are stiff their Arms are distended their Teeth gnash they have palpitations of the Arteries they cannot open their Jaws the Extremities are cold (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Interceptiones Spirituum in venis and the Spirits are intercepted in the Veins If pain ensues it is by the accession of the black Bile and sharp humours For the Internal parts being vellicated or irritated by these humours suffer very much and the Veins being also irritated and dried distend themselves extraordinarily and are inflam'd and draw all that can flow to them so that the Blood corrupting and the Spirits not being able to pass through the Blood (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their natural passages by their ordinary passages the parts grow cold by reason of this Stagnation of the Spirits Hence comes giddiness loss of speech and convulsions If this disorder reaches to the Heart the Liver or to (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It ought to be observ'd that he makes no mention here of the brain nor of the nerves the great Veins From hence come also Epilepsies and Palsies if the defluxions fall upon the parties nam'd and that they dry up because the Spirits are deny'd a passage thro them In this case after Fomentation a Vein must be open'd while the Spirits and Humours are yet (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suspended
was the only Medicine he not thinking it necessary neither to bleed or purge or do any thing more than nurse them after the manner below laid down We have seen likewise the use he made of bleeding and purging in inflamations such as the Pleurisie and Peripneumonie and his cautions in the use of them In the first of these distempers he attempted to abate the pain of the side or to dissipate the peccant matter by applying Fomentations upon the part In the case of the man that was not blooded till the eighth day of his Pleurisie he takes express notice that the Fomentations had not at all abated the pain which supposes him to have begun with them Fomentations were and have been a long time almost an universal Remedy and the use of Oyls Oyntments Cataplasms and other external Medicines was near as common as the sequel will shew Hippocrates did not only apply these Medicines to the part affected in the Pleurisie whose seat is in the side (a) De dlaeta in acutis He caused almost all the body and particularly the Loins and Thighs to be anointed Of those remedies which he gave inwardly in this distemper he appears to have relied most upon those which promoted (b) De locis in hom spitting He proposes also the following remedy (c) Diaeta acutis Take says he Sothernwood Pepper and black Hellebore boyl them in Vinegar and Honey and give it in the beginning of the distemper if the pain be urgent He prescribes in the same case as also in inflamations of the Liver and pains about the Diaphragm Panax boyl'd in the same Liquor and intimates that these Medicines serve to loosen the Belly and so provoke urine so that black Hellebore ordered in the first prescription must not be taken for a true purgative because it would have been against his principles but for a Medicine that only loosens the Belly gently and was about the strength of a Clyster In another place he allows urine (d) See the Chapter of Diet. to his Pleuriticks so it be not a strong Wine and it be well diluted He allows it likewise in a sort of inflamation of the Lungs and in a Lethargy which makes me the less surprized at his ordering Pepper in a Pleurisy and which is an argument that the intention of cooling or the fear of heating were not the strongest considerations upon which Hippocrates acted in the cure of acute distempers although he recommends elsewhere to Pleuriticks a drink made of Water and Vinegar into which he sometimes put a little Honey with an intention to moisten and expectorate Perhaps this Pepper Medicine was one of the empirical Remedies before spoken of the experience whereof he had without the reason In a Peripneumonie or inflamation of the Lungs his practice was much the same as in a Pleurisie We have seen before that he let blood frequently We shall only take notice here that he endeavoured to clear the Lungs by Medicines that attenuated or incided viscid matter and help'd expectoration He particularly for this purpose directs an (e) See the preceeding Chapter Electuary composed of Pine-apples Galbanum and Attick Honey We have seen that he ordered bleeding for those that suddenly lost their Speech or who had any sumptoms of an Apoplexy Palsy or Convulsions and other distempers of the like nature After this he orders vomiting and a purge of a great quantity (f) To the quantity of a dozen and sometimes of sixteen heminae See the Chapter of Purgers of Asses Milk But this latter Remedy seems rather design'd for those that were recovered of these distempers or had overcome the first fit The Fomentations likewise must have been used in the beginning For Convulsions in particular he gave Pepper and black Hellebore in Chicken Broth. He made them sneeze bath foment and anoint continually (g) De locis in homine In another place he orders a fire to be made on both sides the patients bed and gave him Mandiake Root in a small quantity and applied Bags very hot to the Tendons behind without specifying what Tendons he means In a Quinzy he opened the Veins of the Arm and under the Tongue and Breasts He gave Lambitives and Gargles which they were to use hot and used Fumigations as we have taken notice already He advises shaving the Head and to lay a Plaister to it as likewise the Neck which was also to be fomented and covered with Wool lib. 3. h In great peril of suffocation he pierced the Wind-pipe and put a Reed or Pipe into it When the disease began to abate he purged with Elaterium to prevent a relapse He began the cure of an Ileos by Vomiting also tho in this distemper they vomit of themselves too much as we have observed that he did in a Cholera (i) See the Chap. of Vomitives which is likewise a disease whose chief symptom is vomiting Afterwards he let blood from the Veins of the Arm and of the Head and cool'd all the Diaphragm not the Heart excepted and warm'd all those below (k) See the Chapter of outward Remedies by placing the patient in a vessel of warm water and afterward anointing him continually with Oyls or applying Cataplasms as hot as might be endured He used also upon these occasions Suppositors eight inches long made with Honey only and rubb'd at the end with Bulls Gall. This Suppositor having drawn away the nearest excrements he gave a Clyster But if the Suppository had no effect he thrust up the Anus the snowt of a pair of Bellows and having blown up the Belly and Intestines he drew the Bellows and gave the Clyster He gives a caution that this Clyster be made of things which do not heat very much but such as dissolve the excrements and after it is taken he orders the Anus to be stopt with a Sponge and the Patient be put into warm water and keep the Clyster as long as possible He begins his Cronical distempers with the Exsiccating disease describ'd before and taken notice of as a kind of a Hypochondriacal affection For the cure of this evil Hippocrates proposed first walking and exercise and in case of weakness to make use of some carriage and to make short Journeys He adds that they ought to take vomits and purges frequently to use cold Bathing in Summer and to anoint in Autumn and Winter with Oyls to drink Asses Milk or Whey to abstain from meats either sweet or oyly and to use cooling things and such as keep the Belly loose and to take Clysters He mentions (k) Epidem l. 5. sub pâ—inâ— See the Chapter of bleâ—ding the case of a young man something like the distemper we are speaking of thas was cured by repeated Bleeding His Pthysical patients he first purg'd with pretty violent purges such as the Berries of Thymelaea or Spurge After which he gave them Asses Milk or Cows Milk mixt with a third part
The little difference there is between these two names and especially between the H and the 〈◊〉 which are the two first letters occasion'd of being put often one for the other and in the Manuscript copies of Hippocrates the former is sometime called Prodicus sometimes Herodicus (e) Comment lib. 6. Ep dem Galen following the first reading mentions two Physicians named Prodicus of which one was of Lentini the other of Selymbra but he does not determine of which he speaks in the place he comments upon referring the reader to another place where he says he has explainâ—d himself The first seems very probable to have been Hippocrates's master the other his scholar As for their names Plato and Plutarch always call'd the first Herodicus for the better distinction we may continue that name to him and call the latter Prodicus We have seen what Herodicus could do Prodicus composed several works which are cited by Galen but he seems to set no great value upon them He accuses him for not following the method of his master nor of the rest of the ancient Physicians but of amusing himself to quibble upon words or names which is never the sign of a man of ability in any profession whatsoever Galen gives an instance of this false niceness of Prodicus upon the word Phlegm which is a Greek word and which the Latins have render'd by that of Pituita All the ancient Physicians understood by it a cold thick humour but Prodicus only would have the Phlegm to be hot grounding upon the Etymologie of the word Phlegm which is derived from another Greek word which signifies (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. de Hippoc Platen decret lib. 8. cap. 6 de natural facul lib. 2. cap. 9. to burn giving the name of (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 snot to the first sorts of humour which as we have said before was otherwise call'd Pituita Dexippus or Dixippus another disciple of Hippocrates was a Coan as well as himself Suidas tells us that he wrote a book of Physick in general and two other of Prognosticks The same Author adds that Dexippus being sent for to Heccatomnus King of Caria to cure his sons Mausolus and Pixodarus who had each of them a desperate disease which he refusâ—d but upon condition that Heccatomnus should cease to make war upon the Carians whereupon Vossius observes (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Voss de Philosoph that we ought to read the Coans instead of the Carians it being more likely that Dexippus should endeavour to ease his own Countrey from a War to which we may add that it is not likely that the King made war upon his own subjects Aulus Gellius tells us that Dexippus or Dioxippus as he calls him was also for the (i) See the Anatomy of Hippocrates and the Paragraph of Philistion in the Chapter foregoing immediate passage of the drink into the lungs We know nothing of his method of practice except that both he and Appollonius who is the third of Hippocrates's scholars within our knowledge have both been censur'd for giving their Patients too much to eat and letting them perish with thirst Erasistratus said banteringly of them that they made twelve doses of the sixth part of a Cotyla of water which they put into so many little waxen cups and gave their Patients one or two at most in the heighth of a burning feaver The Cotyla was a measure that held about nine ounces Galen says that this was a piece of malice in Erasistratus who did it with a design thro' the scholars to scandalize the master We have nothing further concerning Appollonius Ctesias a Cnidian Physician came immediately after the former being cotemporary to Xenophon We are inform'd by (k) Lib. de Artic. comment 3. Galen that he was of the family of the Asclepiades and Kinsman to Hippocrates The same Galen takes notice that Ctesias corrected Hippocrates for teaching the way of reducing a dislocated Thigh-bone pretending that this reduction was to no purpose for the head of the bone being once out of its cavity it could never be kept in after what care soever were taken but that it would slip out again We know nothing more concerning Ctesias his Physick except that being taken prisoner in the battle wherein in Cyrus the younger was beaten by his brother Artaxerxes Mnemon he cured a wound which the latter had received in the fight After which he practis'd Physick seventeen years in Persia and became as famous a Historian as Physician by writing the History of Assyria and Persia taken from the Archives of those Countries CHAP. III. Opinions of Plato concerning Physick AT this time also Plato liv'd being born in the eighty eighth Olympiad This Philosopher following the steps of Pythagoras and Democritus and the other Philosopher Physicians of whom we have spoken wrote as they did of several things relating to the Theory of Medicine particularly of the Oeconomy of a humane body and the principles whereof it consists The Pythagoreans says (a) Var. Hist lib. 9. cap. 22 Elian applyed themselves very much to Physick Plato also was very much addicted to it as well as Aristotle and several other Philosophers We shall take notice here of what is most considerable upon that subject in the writings of Plato as far as we understand him which is not always very easie to do We shall be a little the more large herein because we meet with divers things which relate to several modern opinions and others which serve to iliustrate those of Hippocrates Plato having supposed two universal principles of all things (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and Matter the first form which he supposed Matter to take was Triangular and that from these Triangles the four sensible Elements were afterwards produced the Fire Air Water and Earth of which all bodies seem'd to him to be compounded As for the humane body he thought that its first formation commenc'd from the spinal marrow which marrow was afterward covered with a bone and these bones with flesh In consequence of this he held that the links which joyned or fastened the soul to the body were in that marrow which he call'd the seat of the mortal soul The reasonable soul he lodged in the brain which he said was a continuation of that marrow and look'd upon it as a soil purposely prepar'd to receive the divine seed As for that part of the soul upon which depend Generosity Valour and Anger he plac'd it near the head between the diaphragme and the neck that is to say in the breast or in the heart in which he followed Pythagoras He held that the lungs encompassed the heart to refresh it and to calm the violent motions of the soul which was lodged there as well by the refreshment which it received from the Air in respiration as from the liquor which we drink which he supposed to fall in part
excrement which goes to the bladder in Animals in whom this Excrement is in too great abundance in order to ease the bladder He adds a little after (r) 〈…〉 9. that the humours filtre or run thro' the substance of the reins in which he seems to touch upon the use afterwards found for these parts but he speaks of it very obscurely (s) Hist Anim. â—b 3. cap. 1. The Testicles also are parts made by nature for conveniency and not of absolute necessity He says that there are two venous channels that come from the Aorta into the Testicles and two others which come from the Kidneys that these two latter contain blood but the former none that there comes out of the head of each Testicle another channel bigger and more nervous which bending backwards and growing less re-ascends towards the former being contained in the same Membrane which proceed to the root of the Virga He adds that this last Channel contains no blood but a white liquor and terminating at the Virga or neck of the bladder it meets there with an opening which goes towards the Virga round about which there is a sort of (t) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 husk or bark This supposed he says that when the Testicles of any Animal are cut off all these channels spoken of shrink up and that 't is upon this retraction that those that are castrated cannot procreate as a proof of this he instances in a Cow which being leaped by a â—ull after he was guelded before these channels of the seed were retracted proved with Calf In another place he explains himself more at large concerning the use of the Testicles saying (v) Hist An. lib. 1. cap. 4. That they are no part of the channels or receptacles of the Seed and have no communication with them but serve only as a weight to draw them downwards and to retard the motion of the Seed as Weavers fasten Stones to their Tackle And as a proof of the uselesness of the Testicles for the principal intention he brings the example of Fishes and Serpents who wanted as he thought those parts yet did engender (x) 〈…〉 lib. 〈◊〉 cap. 20. He held that the conception was made by the mixture of the Seed of a Man with the menstrual blood of a Woman in the Matrix allowing no share to the Seed of the Woman which according to him was only an excrement of the Matrix which some emitted others not yet were not for that less fruitful or less sensible of the Pleasure of Coition this Pleasure arising from a titillation caused by the afflux of the Spirits into the parts of Generation As for the place and manner of digesting the food Aristotle says That the Aliment is first prepared in the mouth of Animals whose food requires to be wet or mash'd but we are not to think that any sort of concoction is perform'd there the meat is only reduced into small parts so that it may be more easily digested and penetrated after 't is descended into the superior and inferior Ventricle which are both destinâ—d to this Office that is to digest the Aliments And as the Mouth is the opening by which the nourishment enters unprepared and the Oesophagus is the Tunnel by which it descends into the upper venter or the ventricle there is need of more openings to carry the nourishment to all the parts of the body from the belly and intestines as out of a Cystern and these openings or pipes are the veins of the Mesentery As Plants says the Philosopher draw their nourishment by their Roots which are dispersed in the Earth so Animals draw theirs by these veins which are as so many Roots to draw from the Belly and Intestines the juice therein contained these parts being to Animals as the Earth is to Plants He says also That these veins are branches of the great veins and of the Aorta which go to the intestines As for the Omentum Aristotle thought that it assisted in conjunction with the Liver to the concoction of the Meat warming the parts to which it is contiguous with its Fat which is hot In explication of what has been already said he held farther that the Coction of the Aliments was performed partly in the superior Venter and partly in the inferiour that the mass of the Aliments being yet too fresh and not being sufficiently concocted while it is in the superior Venter that is the Stomach and being depriv'd of all its Juice and all that is useful in it so that nothing remains but thick excrement when it comes at the bottom of the inferiour Venter there must necessarily be some space between these two in which the nourishment is changed and is neither crude nor excrement This space says he is the thin Gut called Jejunum which is immediately joyned to the superior Venter and by consequence lies between that Venter wherein the Aliments were in part crude and the bottom of the inferiour Venter which contained nothing but excrement These are the places according to Aristotle wherein digestion is performed This digestion was according to him a sort of Elixation that is he thought that the Aliments were prepared in the body much after the manner that meat is boyled in a Pot by means of the heat of the Neighbouring parts the chief of which were as we have observed the Liver and the Cawle We may see by this Gut which he calls Jejunum and the distinction that he makes elsewhere between the Colon the Caecum and the Rectum that the Guts were somewhat better distinguished than in the time of Hippocrates who seems to have acknowledged but two the Colon and the Rectum as we have already taken notice The use of the Lungs and manner of respiration according to Aristotle were these The Heart being inflated by too much heat obliged the Lungs and Breast to swell and move and by consequence to receive in the Air which insinuating itself into the heart refreshed it in its entrance and returning carried off the thick hot vapours exhaling from it and serv'd at the same time to form the voice the Air being necessarily obliged to enter into the Lungs as they rise for fear of a void which is a thing nature abhors (y) Hist Anim. lib. 1. cap. 21. Of the structure of the Ear Aristotle has not delivered much He observes only that 't is turned within in the form of a Shell which terminates at a bone which says he is like to the Ear and whither the sound comes as the last vessel which receives it There is no passage from thence to the Brain but there is one goes to the Pallat and a vein which descends from the Brain to that place that is to the Bone of the Ear. (z) De Anima b. 2. cap. 8. He says elsewhere that hearing is produced by means of the External Air which moves the internal Air or the Air inclosed in the Ear and he adds that if
into the lungs (c) Gell. llb. 17. cap. 11. Macrob. lib. 17 cap. 15. which made one of the Ancients say that Plato gave posterity occasion to laugh by meddling with that which was not his business But he that said this did not consider that Hippocrates and other Physicians before spoken of were themselves of this opinion and that Plato apparently spoke only after them This Philosopher imagined also another part or sort of soul which desired not only meat and drink and all that was necessary for the body but which was the Principle of all appetites or desire in general This soul was posted between the Diaphragm and the Navel it was quartered in the lowest part and farthest from the head that it might not by its agitations and commotions disturb the reasonable soul which is the best part of us in its meditations and thoughts for the common good These troubles or disturbances of the inferiour soul were excited by Phantasms or Images presented to it by the liver the liver having been polishâ—d and made shining that it might reflect the Images which were communicated to it to produce trouble tranquility or pleasure in the inferiour soul according as the liver is it self troubled by the bitterness of the Bile or sedate and calm thro' the predomination of sweet Juices opposed to the Bile Besides what we have already said of the heart and of the soul lodged there Plato held this further concerning it The heart says he which is at the same time (d) Viâ—â— Pag. the source of the veins and of the bloud which (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See pag. whirls rapidly in all parts of the body is set (f) See pag as a Centinel or Serjeant that when the Choler is inflamed at the command of the Reason upon the account of some injustice committed either without or within by the desire or passions presently all that is sensibly in the body disposes it self by opening all its pores to hear its menaces and obey its commands The opinion of this Philosopher concerning the manner of respiration is no less peculiar He believed that there was no vacuum in the world but that the Air which escaped out of the Lungs and Mouth in respiration meeting that which surrounds the body without pushes it so that it forces it to enter thro' the pores of the skin and flesh and to insinuate it self into the most remote parts of the body till it fills the place which the other left after which making the same way out again by the Pores it forces that without to enter by the mouth into the lungs in inspiration We see by this that Plato confounded transpiration with respiration pretending that both one and t'other were performed together as it were by two semicircles As for the flesh he thought it compounded of water fire and earth and a certain sort of sharp leaven biting and salt These are some of Plato's thoughts of a humane body in its natural state As for the causes of its destruction which are diseases old age and death he supposed in the first place that the bodies which are about ours disolv'd and melt it continually after which every substance which gets loose or exhales returns to the principle from whence it was drawn he supposes in the second place that the blood which is according to him a fluid matter form'd of the Aliments by a peculiar artifice of nature which cuts and reduces them into small pieces by means of (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fire which rises in our stomach after the air or breath He supposed that this blood whose redness was an evident token of the impression of this fire served to nourish the flesh and generally the whole body and to fill up the vacant spaces of it as it were by a sort of watering or general inundation This being supposed he maintained that while we were young this bloud abounding in all parts not only supply'd what was dissipated or diminished of the flesh which as was said was perpetual but after having fill'd up what was wanting it furnish'd matter of increase to the mass of the body from hence it is that in our youth we grow and become larger but when we are advanced in years more of the substance of our body is spent than the bloud can supply or restore therefore we diminish by degrees Those principles also of which our bodies consists which Plato calls Triangles which in our youth were stronger than those of which the Aliments were compounded reducing them easily to a substance like themselves become disunited and relaxed by having so long endured the shock of other triangles this causes old age which is followed by death especially where the triangles whereof the spinal marrow consists are dissolv'd and disunited so that the bands by which the soul was fasten'd to it are intirely broken and let it loose As for diseases which attack us in all ages and precipitate the usual time of death he suppos'd that our bodies being composed of the four Elements before named the disorders of these Elements were the chief causes of them These disorders consisted in the excess or deficiency of any of these Elements when they did not preserve the proportion of their first mixture or when they changed place leaving their own place for another To explain himself more particularly he adds that the fire exceeding produced continual and burning fevers that if the air over-ballanced it produced quotidian intermitting Fevers If the Water Tertian Fevers and if Earth Quartanes The Earth being the heaviest of all the Elements must have quadruple the time to move it self in that the fire has and the rest of the Elements in proportion Plato did not confine himself to these generals only but proceeded to the particular explication of the changes that befall our bodies in relation to the bloud and humours which are the immediate causes of distempers While the bloud says he maintains its natural state it serves to nourish the body and to preserve health But when the flesh begins to corrupt or to melt and dissolve the humour which comes from it entring into the veins carries this corruption along with it and changing the bloud in several manners turns it from red to yellow and bitter or sower or salt so that that which was pure Bloud becomes part Bile and Phlegm or Serosities What we call Bile says Plato is particularly produced from the dissolution of the old flesh it is an humour that assumes divers forms and is very changeable both as to colour and taste but it is chiefly distinguished into two sorts the yellow Bile which is bitter and the black Bile which is sowre and pricking As for the Phlegm and Serosities or Water Plato seems to confound them or to make but one sort of humour of them The Phlegm according to him is produced from the new flesh and the serosities or waters which are designed by the particular names of sweat